Been to the movies lately? My guess is that, if you did, the film was either animated and/or part of the Disney franchise, one that was full of violence and/or gore, or one that was full of sex. That's basically because most movies out there, at least the mainstream (see: non-indie, although they can pack a wallop too) ones, fall into at least one of those categories. Oh, and let's not forget DRUGS! Everyone loves a movie about drugs!

According to this blogger, More Than Fine, the MPAA ratings are off their rocker, and heavily influenced by big studios. He makes a compelling argument. Why was a love story using a few "F-bombs" given an R-rating while the ultra-violent Pirates of the Caribbean 3 given a mere PG-13? That movie shows a child being killed, an attempted rape and pretty much everything else.

Angelina Jolie is essentially nude in Beowolf, and larger than life if you saw her on Imax, yet that movie only got a PG-13 rating as well. Hmm. Something does seem rotten in Denmark, or at least fishy.

More Than Fine then goes on to lament he feels like he's coming off as a prude. He comments that he's not against these kinds of things in movies--he's against censorship. My take is that he's also against big business changing the standards for their own means even if it compromises a system the American public--and especially parents--is trusting to help them make decisions.

Sometimes the system does work. I saw Children of Men and boy did it deserve an R. Honestly, it was so unbelievably violent--and I do mean violent--that I almost couldn't watch it. I nearly had to leave the theater. What saved it was the amazing acting, writing, directing, and everything else. It was a movie I truly loved, but one I will never see again.

Ratings keep people from seeing movies they should not see, but they also, when bent to serve interests (and I have to agree with More Than Fine here), let people who probably aren't ready see things maybe it's best for them to wait to see.

Who decides that? Well, it's not me. I couldn't tell you a thing about what goes or should go into that decision making process. But I want to trust the MPAA and other like resources to give me good, unbiased information.

Do you trust the MPAA or do you use other resources to make decisions about what you, and your kids (if you have 'em) see?

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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)

You're right. Monitoring what our kids (and even ourselves) are exposed to can be a frustrating job. Years ago I found myself walking out of the theater mid-way through movies more and more frequently. So now I'm much more intentional about what I choose to watch. I haven't 'dropped by' a movie theater in seven or eight years. We only go when there is a specific movie we want to see.

To decide which movies I want our daughter and us to watch, I first visit www.pluggedinonline.com. Movies are reviewed for Positive Elements, Sexual Content, Violence, and Profanity, and I can decide what I feel comfortable watching without having to be shocked part-way through. I also visit www.rottentomatoes.com to get an idea of how good the plot is.

Thanks for writing this thoughtful post, Jennifer! I look forward to reading what others have to say.

I don't trust the MPAA. I check out what other countries rate a movie before going to see one. Many R-rated movies are rated acceptable for 15 year olds.

Having homosexual sex, in any context, in a film gets it a harsher rating than the same act between a hetrosexual couple. For example, the film "But I'm a Cheerleader" (orginally rated NC-17) showed a girl mastrubating full clothed and same sex partners having sex in a non explict manner. However, the first "American Pie" which showed a boy having sex with an apple pie had no problem getting an R rating.

Male rear nudity is assumed to be of a joking manner while female rear nudity is considered to be sexual. (This is also a fault of American society that has sexualized just about all parts of the female body.)

Violence which shows the consquence of the action (i.e; blood) is given a harsher rating than bloodless violence.

Sex is always rated more harshly than violence. Though, violence can be justified the results are never pretty. However, sex is natural and when shared between two consenting adults is beautiful. Violence is ugly.

Independant films, such as Once (the sweet romantic movie with a few F bombs Jennifer referenced) are given harsher ratings while mainstream movies get lesser ratings.

Smoking, a perfectly legal act, gets a harher rating.

The MPAA board members are also hypocrites. Their rules state that board members must have children under the age of eighteen. Once the kids are of the legal age, they must resign. Yet, the majourity of the members have children older than eighteen and one does not even have kids.

Two minsiters (one Protestant, another Catholic) sit on the board. The MPAA claim that they have no say in the ratings process, so why the heck are they there?

We need a standarized rating system. The one in place now has too many variables and is unrealiable. When the ultra-violent "No Country for Old Men" and "Fido" (which at its most graphic shows a few seconds of a severed arm) can have the same R rating, then we have a flawed system in place.

No, I do not trust the ratings at all, or even what programming is supposed to be for children. That's why my child watches no movies or TV at all, to be on the safe side since the media can't be trusted with her fragile psyche and mind.

I agree with you, Eva. My kids, 5 and 7, don't watch any TV and rarely a movie unless it's a DVD that I am quite familiar with like High School Musical. I don't even like them to watch people being bullied, kids being disrespectful to adults or anyone saying words like dumb and stupid. It's impossible to find anything on TV that I find appropriate for my kids to watch.

its called I watch it first. I agree with the fact that the rating system is flawed (in a HUGE way), but it is still helpful.

I know what I am pretty safe with some Disney movies and movies like the Alvin and the chipmucks (it rocked) that I don't have to see first, but my husband has let some movies go by that I wouldn't agree with but he saw no problem with it. I guess that is the difference between men and women.

on regular tv, I preset the channels to show what I want him watching and I usually (depending on my mood) allow him a few choice to pick from.

Our daughter doesnt like the "movies" Prefers waiting for them to come out on DVD I guess. But she is a HUGE fan of the "classic" Disney movies. Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp. Also loves the Santa Clause movies. Shrek, Cars, Over the Hedge. And is currently hooked on Scooby Doo. She figured out the TiVo in no time flat. That said. We rarely spend time indoors. Although with the current cold snap we are in more than out. But she uses the computer as well. Right now she is playing in her room having just finished coloring. TV is off and I get to get some work done and surf the web some.

I have nearly walked out of only one movie over the last few years. It was a jet Li film and was just too violent. any movie that begins with bloody bunnies should be walked out on at that moment. But I am appalled by the amount of parents that think bringing a child to a rated R, PG 13 or anything but a G rated movie is a good idea. But then again poor and irresponsible parenting abounds

I agree that ratings are screwed up, but I just wanted to take issue with a couple points in this post.

1. It's been a while since I saw Pirates 3, but I think when you mention the child being killed, you're talking about the kid who gets hung at the very beginning? Don't they blank out before actually SHOWING him hang, implying rather than visually showing his death? I realize it seems like nitpicking, but for ratings it's actually a pretty big distinction. Also I might be misremembering.

2. Beowulf is CGI rather than live action. That means that there was not actually a nude Angelina Jolie, just an extremely accurate animation of a nude Angelina Jolie. Animated films are going to be treated differently, whether they should be is another matter entirely. On the other hand did they actually show enough of Jolie to get it bumped up to R had it been live action? I'm asking sincerely, I'm not sure where they draw the line on sexual content. Frankly in Beowulf I would have been far more concerned with exposing children to the extreme violence than Angelina Jolie.

Afterall isn't PG13 supposed to be for kids over 13? No one really follows that, but I thought that was the guideline. I'd think Pirates would have been fine for a 13 year old, maybe Beowulf less so.

Anyway, as I said I agree with the author's basic comments, just wanted to mention these couple areas for discussion's sake.

Beowulf was orginally rated R (even had a red band trailer released for the film) until Angeline Jolie's nipples were taken out of the movie. However, the violence in the film was not changed. The MPAA is basically saying that the naked female body is more vulgar than a violence.

I preview media before my children watch it. We do not subscribe to cable tv. Not at much because of the tv programs, but it was a financial drain and we hated all the advertising. They are allowed to watch DVDs and videos. They are still very young so we haven't yet taken them to a big screen movie.

However, to all the previous posters that said that they cut off all movies and television for their children I do wonder how your kids are ever going to learn to filter media properly? I work as a school library media specialist, one of my jobs is to work with students as young as grade kindergarten on how to find information, process information, and to choose good and bad media. The very same choices that we are making now for our children we will expect them to make...however I fear that by cutting them off completely from media we'll be disabling their ability to hone those skills.

Thank you so much Jennifer. You said what I’ve been thinking all day today. I was very hesitant to respond to this post as I didn’t know how to put what I wanted to say. But you managed it quite nicely.

I feel children need certain things in order to learn from them. If they never see or experience anything, how will they learn things? If you deny “all TV” and “all movies” that’s fine I guess if that’s what you choose to do but somewhere along the line you are going to be really confusing your child. At some point, as sad as it is, pets do die and people are in accidents and kids are bullied and bad things happen. If children don't know these things how can we prepare them? Sometimes the simple act of a movie or a television program opens the door to a discussion.

I know this has nothing to do with the general post about ratings but it has really bothered me all day. By shielding your child from all these things, I feel, in the long run will confuse them on how we are supposed to deal with things. Obviously I’m not talking about very violent or sexually oriented movies but ALL media is what is bothering me. It’s kind of like saying “my child can’t play with yours because she used the word stupid.” One bus trip will send some of these kids over the edge. They will never want to be at home as they age because they will want to go to their friends house where they can watch TV and a movie. I had a friend like that back in the 70's who's parents were hippies and they had no TV and she used me to watch my TV and I never forgot the hurt I felt. I thought she wanted to be my friend but she was only interested in watching what she couldn't at home. Your alienating your children and you don’t realize it yet.

Hi, Kelsey. My husband and I have this conversation constantly. Why is it ok to show people getting bludgeoned, etc., but not to show sex or the female body? Definitely a mixed message to everyone about women in general!

Hi, Joy. Well said from your end too. I'd like to think the MPAA is one tool in a bad of resources for helping us figure out what's good and what's not for our kids. I also think that at some point a child is going to see something he or she shouldn't, and learn from it. When I was little I saw a werewolf movie over at a neighbor's house and it terrified me for weeks. That was a bad example. I also saw Island of the Blue Lagoon over at another neighbor's house--quite a neighborhood!--and learned all about SEX. And, what's interesting, my parents pretty much let me watch whatever I wanted. I grew up on MTV. Seriously. And this was in the days before any sort of ratings. It was the dawn of cable television when everything went. From MTV, even though it was supposed to be for older kids, I learned all about freedom of expression, creativity, and let's not forget black lace and plastic bracelets!!!

It's sad that you had such an awful experience with a non-friend over television of all things! I guess we live and learn, but you're still remembering that memory and the impact it had on you still lingers. I guess we learn things not only from the media but our actions toward it and reactions to it.

TheTalkies

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